War of 1812: A bloody battle rages on the York

Like any other savvy skipper on the Chesapeake Bay, Capt. Samuel Travis took extra care when he moored his ship in the York River on the windless evening of June 12, 1813.

For more than four months, the sailors and marines of a relentless Royal Navy blockade had chased down almost every American vessel that came into sight, and the Williamsburg mariner knew his federal revenue cutter would make a tempting target.

That often deadly threat helps explain why — at least according to the best guess of a sailor who knows these waters well — Travis probably moored in an out-of-sight location on the east side of the York River just north of Gloucester Point rather than in the more exposed, less easily escaped anchorage south of the fast-moving current that pours through the narrows.

It also underscores why he and his crew of 24 readied their 6-pound deck guns, laid a small armory of loaded pistols, short-barreled muskets and cutlasses on the deck and then hung boarding netting around the perimeter of their ship before setting the first night watch.

That thoroughness was followed by both courage and determination a few hours later when — after a warning shot fired by their sentry boat — Travis and his men made their stand in one of the storied battles of the revenue service during the War of 1812.

Taking up their weapons in the rain and pea-soup gloom, they fought and held their own in hand-to-hand-combat with a British boarding party more than twice their size, surrendering only after their inch-by-inch struggle across the deck became futile.

"They fought in the face of overwhelming odds, knowing that their chances of success were very slim — and they did it without shirking," says Director David Niebuhr of the Watermen's Museum, which will stage a series of programs commemorating the Surveyor's valiant fight Thursday through Sunday on the Yorktown waterfront.

"This was an honorable defense in every way, and they fought right up to the moment that everyone knew it was useless to continue."

In harm's way

Born into a Virginia family with deep colonial roots, Travis' history of clashes with the British reached back to his childhood.

Though it's not certain if he was living on his family's Jamestown farm during the attack, he certainly would have heard stories of the Nov. 17, 1775, Royal Navy shelling that destroyed their kitchen chimney.

He also would have heard tales about fighting British seamen from his uncle, who served as a captain in Virginia's Revolutionary War navy, and his father-in-law, a Hampton mariner who became Travis' skipper on a revenue service cutter after a heroic war career commanding the brig Southampton.

Still, the experienced sailor knew all too well that his modest ship — armed with only six small guns — was built for speed and fighting smugglers rather than head-to-head clashes with the British navy.

But after President Thomas Jefferson mothballed most of the American navy's frigates in favor of building diminutive gunboats, the revenue cutters were often the only vessels left to fight back during the War of 1812.

"They definitely were going in harm's way, and they were often on the front line in the fight against the British. So you had a lot of huge mismatches in which they had no choice but to do their best."

Still, Travis' opponents on the night of June 12 were not British frigates or men of war but rather a stealthy flotilla made up of two ship's boats and two large, oar-driven barges manned by as many as 65 sailors and marines from the 32-gun HMS Narcissus.

Standing off at the mouth of the York — and possibly uncertain about navigating in unfamiliar waters — the frigate's captain attacked in a way that had worked again and again against American ships in the Chesapeake Bay, especially those trying to evade capture by fleeing to the shoals.

"The British were very well-trained — and very good at boarding and capturing ships with these fast, maneuverable barges," says Williamsburg historian Stuart L. Butler, retired assistant chief of the military archives branch of the National Archives and author of "Defending the Old Dominion: Virginia and its Militia in the War of 1812."

"So when they sent these boats to attack the Surveyor, they knew exactly what they were doing."

A midnight attack

Muffling their oars, the British tars rowed for miles in the rain, mist and gloom, probably against the tide.

Not until they approached within 200 yards of their prey were they finally detected by the ship's sentry boat, which fired a warning shot.

Exactly how the boats attacked is not known. But in the absence of any report of fire from the Surveyor's deck guns, it's likely they split into two groups and converged out of range on their enemy's stern and bow.

That's when Travis and his remaining crew of about 18 — each one brandishing two loaded muskets as well as pistols, cutlasses and boarding axes — stood up to fire.

"They were all ready, and they would have gotten off at least two volleys before the English cut the nets and climbed on deck," said former Virginia War Museum director John V. Quarstein.

"And once they did, the Surveyor's crew made them fight inch by inch."

The hand-to-hand melee dragged on for at least 15 violent minutes, during which the Americans killed three and wounded seven, including the English lieutenant in command.

Thiessen describes it as "a slow-motion event" in which the defenders grudgingly gave way toward the middle of the ship, fighting and retreating as more and more British sailors and Marines climbed over the gunwales and poured onto the deck.

By the time the Americans finally laid down their arms, they were outnumbered as much as 3:1. Five of their own men, including Travis, were wounded.

"Your gallant and desperate attempt to defend your vessel against more than double your number excited such admiration on the part of your opponents as I have seldom witnessed, and induced me to return to you the sword you had so ably used," British commander Lt. John Cririe later wrote to Travis.

"I am at a loss which to admire most, the previous arrangement on board the Surveyor or the determined manner in which her deck was disputed inch-by-inch."

That stout resistance defied the British expedition's previous experience in the upper Chesapeake Bay, where a detached squadron of warships had raided a series of Maryland towns and captured almost every American vessel it encountered with little trouble.

But with the immense fleet finally reuniting in Hampton Roads — and then adding to its firepower with the arrival of 2,600 seasoned troops — it was probably seen as no more than a speed bump by British commanders intent on bigger targets.

"The attack on the Surveyor is just the beginning of the most intense and aggressive period of British activity on the lower bay," Quarstein said.

"And they were just beginning to flex their muscles."

Find more stories on Hampton Roads history at dailypress.com/history and Facebook.com/hrhistory.

Want to go?

Bicentennial commemoration of the June 12, 1813,battle of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Surveyor against the boats of the HMS Narcissus

When: 5 p.m. Thursday. Music by the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center band, followed by a 5:30 p.m. ceremony.

10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1-4 p.m. Sunday. A Maritime Heritage Festival with vessels from the Coast Guard, Navy and Army open for deck tours, plus numerous displays and historical interpretations and re-enactments.